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Portal Gun
The Aperture Science Handheld Portal Device, often simply referred to as the Portal Gun, or its acronym, "ASHPD", is an experimental tool used to create two portals through which objects can pass. The central piece of the "Portal project", Tier 3 of the three-tier program created by Aperture Science's CEO Cave Johnson on his deathbed in 1976,ApertureScience.comAperture Science: A History on Game Informer it is used within the Enrichment Center's Test Chambers, as the Test Subjects' primary tool to complete each chamber. Overview *The ASHPD has the ability to "manufacture two linked portals at once". The blue portal is fired by hitting the primary fire key, while the orange one is fired by hitting the secondary fire key. When entering a blue portal, one will always come out an orange portal and vice versa. *During Portal, Chell first acquires the ASHPD in Test Chamber 02; it fires only the blue portals. It is later upgraded in Test Chamber 11 to fire the orange portals as well (while another model is found there, it actually consists of an upgrade of the current model, as said by GLaDOS). When each of the two versions of the gun are found, they are seen placed on a pedestal in the middle of a Test Chamber. The pedestal is constantly turning on itself, and the ASHPD shoots a portal each time it faces one of the four walls of the room it is in. Chell has to use the non-player controlled gun to complete the Test Chambers and once done acquires the initial ASHPD and later its upgrade. Currently it is not known how the two single ASHPDs are combined into one to result in a "modified" single gun. *In Test Chamber 02, GLaDOS states that while portals have proven to be completely safe, the ASHPD has not. She then asks not to touch the operational end of the device, not to look directly at its operational end, and not to submerge it in liquid, even partially. She also insists on the fact that under no circumstances the device should be removed from the testing area. After the ASHPD is upgraded in Test Chamber 11, GLaDOS states, as an "amusing fact", that the device is "now more valuable than the organs and combined incomes of everyone in hometown here". The terms appearing in brackets at the end of the sentence suggest it is said each time a Test Subject picks up the upgraded ASHPD, emphasizing on its great value. *The player can also grab objects with the ASHPD, similar to the Gravity Gun, but one has to stand close to the object to do so, and it cannot be thrown. They can be carried through a portal, a process often required during tests. *The ASHPD is held with a hand behind the weapon, holding the handle / trigger. The other hand is placed under the cannon. *A sprite in the small hole on the top of the ASHPD and a sprite in its glass tube have the color of the last shot portal. *As with most of the features of the Enrichment Center, the ASHPD is slightly worn-out. *The ASHPD is slated to appear in Portal 2. Three models will apparently be featured; one used by Chell, the two others by the two yet unnamed robots. Tactics *The ASHPD cannot create portals on every surface. While it can on any concrete surface, it will not work on certain tiled floors, metal, any kind or prop, doors or windows. However it works on security cameras, detaching them and making them fall on the ground. When shooting a portal on an unauthorized surface, the weapon's ray will bounce off and be turned into blue or orange particles that shortly disappear. This constraint was added to make puzzles deeper than merely teleporting to the exit.Portal commentary *The oval-shaped crosshair/reticle of the ASHPD indicates useful information pertaining the portals. It first starts with a completely blue crosshair, as the first acquired ASHPD can only shoot blue portals. Later, when the ASHPD is upgraded to shoot orange portals, the crosshair is cut in two parts, blue and orange. Furthermore, a smaller oval appears next to the side that has been most recently fired. Finally, when the ASHPD is held in front of a surface where portals cannot be shot, only the outlines of the two oval elements are seen. They must always be filled in to allow shooting portals. *Shooting an orange portal on an existing blue portal (vice versa) will create the portal right next to it, if the room available allows it. *An Aperture Science Material Emancipation Grid will "reboot" any portal created by the ASHPD. In that way each Test Subject starts each new Test Chamber with a "clean" portal network, and must use their assets properly when having to come across one several times during tests. When this happens, the gun slightly shakes as the portals disappear. *Several portal creating techniques involving the ASHPD exist to complete several Test Chambers. They are covered in great detail in the Portal Prima Guide. Notes and references External links *Portal Gun - a set on Flickr (fan-made life-size ASHPD) Category:Aperture Science Category:Indirect Weapons Category:Experimental weapons Category:Fictional pusj